Setting focus on oncology in a German undergraduate medical training program: Our experience with a longitudinal elective Interdisciplinary Oncology.

Abstract

11034 Background: Compared to other academic disciplines such as social sciences and humanities, medical school curricula leave limited opportunities to meet individual interests of students. Methods: To allow students to set an individual focus in their MD education, and to promote a sound scientific basis, n = 11 longitudinal electives (“tracks”) were introduced within the Heidelberg Curriculum Medicinale (HeiCuMed) in 2017. The volume of additional training consists of 2 weekly lectures hours for at least 1.5 years of training. Participation in the program has been on a voluntary basis until 2019 and now is obligatory for every student. Results: n = 141 students are currently enrolled within the track “Interdisciplinary Oncology (IO)”. More than n = 50 optional courses are offered each semester covering oncologic subjects such as scientific methods in cancer research, ethical issues in research and clinical practice, communication and clinical skills training. The modular system of the IO elective allows for a wide selection of topics for participating students but also poses a challenge for graded assessments. Conclusions: Conducting a modular elective including graded assessments is feasible. The longitudinal track IO has a high voluntary participation rate and very positive feedback from students. This indicates that our teaching concept is very well suited to address the call for increased choice and specialization in medical curricula in Germany.